Handheld communication units, such a cellular telephones, personal digital assistants, music storage devices and gaming consoles, each having a number of keypads, touch screens or trackballs and the like, have and continue to become increasingly popular and widespread. As technology advances, the size and weight of such units reduces. Indeed, it is not uncommon at the time of this writing to see cellular telephones weighing but a few ounces and having height and width dimensions on the order of a few inches and thicknesses on the order of a fraction of an inch. While using such slender and lightweight communication units, it is not uncommon for the unit to slip from a user's hand and drop to the ground, being damaged in the process. Moreover, because the of the compactness of modern units, it is not uncommon for user's to experience Repetitive Stress Injuries (RS) resulting from operating keyboards and the like, particularly by young people “texting” tens if not hundreds of messages daily. Further, as the devices become smaller and more compact, is becomes more difficult to hold the device with a single hand while typing or keying or otherwise operating the device with the user's thumb.
The present specification seeks to address the difficulties associated with inadvertent dropping of a communications unit while, at the same time, providing a prophylactic measure against RSI, as well as other injuries, including, but not limited to. Text Messaging Injury (TMI), Nintenditis, and Blackberry Thumb. These injuries are likely to grow in significance as more and more people simultaneously operate and hold handheld devices using a single hand. Additional benefits arise in productivity as well—e.g., it is not only more comfortable to type messages or operate a compact console using a single hand, but is more efficient also. Indeed, the current examples describe herein even permit efficient operation of a communications unit or similar device while seated or laying horizontally—e.g., in a bed—with the communication unit being held by the user over his or her head. Additionally, the present examples described herein facilitate easy, single-handed use of a camera included with the device. Smartphones with touch-screens frequently have the shutter button on the device screen. As a result, the actuation of an on-screen shutter button proves to be difficult while holding the device in one hand and then pressing the shutter button with the same hand.